Iran wrestling news

[Lucho]

27 minutes ago, Bulldozer Without Brakes said:

Russians had a bad time in Moscow today

Khaniev, Kadiev, Tazhudinov and Kadik all lost to Americans, and Sadulaev had a surprisingly close 8-6 win over a smaller American greco roman wrestler who was virtually unknown before today

Suddenly, 79 and 86 are more open and Levi Haines and Ghasempour seem to have better chances of success

Snyder is somehow maintaining his great form in his 30s while Tazhudinov is the most washed 23 year old wrestler in history. Yoshida and Yazdani might have a shot at 97 after all, though Snyder seems to be a slight favourite for now

I think Tazhudinov might get caught for doping his fall off seems way too suspicious for it to be solely injury related. I have a feeling in 5-6 years time when they retest his samples his 2023 world gold and 2024 olympic gold are being revoked. The other Russians barring Khaniev lost to guys who were in better form on paper. Valencia beat Ghasempour who has beaten Kadiev twice at this point, Dake beat Kadik. Khaniev loosing is surprising to me as he has been in really good form but Nolf has always been a very tricky wrestler. I think 79 and 86 might be an Iran vs USA showdown this year with Nokhodi vs Haines and Ghasempour vs Dake being the main decider matches. 97 is going to be very tough to predict as I believe Sadulaev will come very prepared for worlds but this result gives me the indication it won't be that easy for him to even make the final.

[Bulldozer Without Brakes]

10 minutes ago, Lucho said:

I think Tazhudinov might get caught for doping his fall off seems way too suspicious for it to be solely injury related. I have a feeling in 5-6 years time when they retest his samples his 2023 world gold and 2024 olympic gold are being revoked. The other Russians barring Khaniev lost to guys who were in better form on paper. Valencia beat Ghasempour who has beaten Kadiev twice at this point, Dake beat Kadik. Khaniev loosing is surprising to me as he has been in really good form but Nolf has always been a very tricky wrestler. I think 79 and 86 might be an Iran vs USA showdown this year with Nokhodi vs Haines and Ghasempour vs Dake being the main decider matches. 97 is going to be very tough to predict as I believe Sadulaev will come very prepared for worlds but this result gives me the indication it won't be that easy for him to even make the final.

Dake lost 11-4 to Kadiev and went life and death with Kadik today, I don't see him being a serious contender for gold in Astana

But I agree on the rest

[Lucho]

Iran had a mock tournament between the Asian Games, Senior Worlds, U23 Worlds and I believe the Tehran and possibly junior teams recently behind closed doors. Basically it was 4 or 5 matches for each wrestler with 3/4 in the morning and one in the evening like it is in international tournaments. However it was straight 6 minutes with no break and the match continued even if one wrestler was 10 points or more up on the other one. It was for the freestyle team specifically to physically and mentally prepare the wrestlers for the respective tournaments. I think it was a good idea and I am surprised this is the first time they did something like this. I feel like in the future these sort of matches need to happen more as a lot of our shortfalls in my opinion are physical conditioning and mental preparedness. Another interesting thing that has come up recently is that Dabir has said that no senior team wrestler can compete in the Iranian wrestling league. I find this to be quite strange given the American and Russian guys are competing at RAF, PWL, Iran etc and they still do fine. I know that Amouzad has been quite against competing in the league but that is due to the fact he doesn't want to cut weight too much throughout the year.

[Tyler Perry]

On 9/5/2026 at 5:14 PM, Bulldozer Without Brakes said:

Russians had a bad time in Moscow today

Khaniev, Kadiev, Tazhudinov and Kadik all lost to Americans, and Sadulaev had a surprisingly close 8-6 win over a smaller American greco roman wrestler who was virtually unknown before today

Suddenly, 79 and 86 are more open and Levi Haines and Ghasempour seem to have better chances of success

Snyder is somehow maintaining his great form in his 30s while Tazhudinov is the most washed 23 year old wrestler in history. Yoshida and Yazdani might have a shot at 97 after all, though Snyder seems to be a slight favourite for now

Taz is 23? Holy shit I honestly thought he was 30

[Bulldozer Without Brakes]

I am starting to think Trump isn't coming to save Iranians and help is not, in fact, on the way.

Let's just hope we get visas for 2027 Worlds and 2028 Olympics...  

[Sulyvahn]

17 hours ago, Tyler Perry said:

Taz is 23? Holy shit I honestly thought he was 30

Geno looks like a middle aged businessman with college aged children, but he's still only in his early 30s. Snyder looks old and Zare looks old. With wrestlers it's more, who doesn't look old for their age?

 

[Sulyvahn]

On 9/5/2026 at 5:41 PM, Lucho said:

Anyone that has a reasonable gas tank and a decent gut wrench can medal at 130 nowadays so guys like Vitek being consistent medal threats don't surprise me.

There are not enough big men participating in international wrestling. Vitek is nowhere near 130kg. He's undersized (theoretically), not that athletic, and not a very skilled wrestler. But he's tough, gritty, has the fundamentals down, and that's enough to medal against the 130 kg fields he's facing. 

There are definitely people playing as NFL linemen or in Rugby Union who are both athletic and would weigh 130 kg without loads excess body fat. 

[MPhillips]

35 minutes ago, Bulldozer Without Brakes said:

I am starting to think Trump isn't coming to save Iranians

He's not saving Americans either.

[Lucho]

Since early predictions have been made for the US 2028 olympic squad, I was wondering about our own team both freestyle and greco.

Freestyle:

57: Milad Valizadeh

65: Rahman Amouzad

74: Amir Mohammad Yazdani

86: Kamran Ghasempour

97: Hassan Yazdani

125: Amir Hossein Zare

Greco:

60: Armin Shamsipour

67: Saeid Esmaeili

77: Ali Oskou

87: Alireza Mohmedi

97: Hadi Saravi

130: Fardin Hedayati

For freestyle, the 2 weights I'm undecided on are 74 since Sina Khalili could move up and I think he can beat Amir Mohammad Yazdani and also 97 since Azarpira could end up beating Hassan Yazdani in trials in the next 2 years especially since Yazdani is slowly leaving his prime years.

For greco, you could make the argument between Gholamreza Farokhi and Alireza Mohmedi at 87 as well as Hedayati and Mirzazadeh for 130 but I feel like Mohmedi beats Farokhi and Hedayati by 2028 is definitely better than Hedayati by then. At 60, I'm assuming Shamsipour moves up whilst Payam Ahmadi stays at 55. I think Shamsipour beats Ahmadi Vafa out for the olympic team.

[Bulldozer Without Brakes]

14 hours ago, Lucho said:

Since early predictions have been made for the US 2028 olympic squad, I was wondering about our own team both freestyle and greco.

Freestyle:

57: Milad Valizadeh

65: Rahman Amouzad

74: Amir Mohammad Yazdani

86: Kamran Ghasempour

97: Hassan Yazdani

125: Amir Hossein Zare

Greco:

60: Armin Shamsipour

67: Saeid Esmaeili

77: Ali Oskou

87: Alireza Mohmedi

97: Hadi Saravi

130: Fardin Hedayati

For freestyle, the 2 weights I'm undecided on are 74 since Sina Khalili could move up and I think he can beat Amir Mohammad Yazdani and also 97 since Azarpira could end up beating Hassan Yazdani in trials in the next 2 years especially since Yazdani is slowly leaving his prime years.

For greco, you could make the argument between Gholamreza Farokhi and Alireza Mohmedi at 87 as well as Hedayati and Mirzazadeh for 130 but I feel like Mohmedi beats Farokhi and Hedayati by 2028 is definitely better than Hedayati by then. At 60, I'm assuming Shamsipour moves up whilst Payam Ahmadi stays at 55. I think Shamsipour beats Ahmadi Vafa out for the olympic team.

The teams basically pick themselves and are very similar to the 2026 team. I think 2028 will be too early for Shamsipour at 60kg, he is a few years behind Ahmadi Vafa, who had an even better age level career than Shamsipour and now has good senior level experience and looks to be improving this year. 

I hope we find someone better at 57 and 74 for FS but it's unlikely so we will have to live with Valizadeh. I wouldn't be surprised with Emami or Sina at 74 instead of Yazdani Jr. Azarpira should beat Yazdani if he can adjust his style and gain some form. 

86 will be interesting with Ghasempour, Rahmani, Nokhodi, and maybe Yousefi and Azimi.

Edited September 13 by Bulldozer Without Brakes

[Lucho]

7 hours ago, Bulldozer Without Brakes said:

The teams basically pick themselves and are very similar to the 2026 team. I think 2028 will be too early for Shamsipour at 60kg, he is a few years behind Ahmadi Vafa, who had an even better age level career than Shamsipour and now has good senior level experience and looks to be improving this year. 

I hope we find someone better at 57 and 74 for FS but it's unlikely so we will have to live with Valizadeh. I wouldn't be surprised with Emami or Sina at 74 instead of Yazdani Jr. Azarpira should beat Yazdani if he can adjust his style and gain some form. 

86 will be interesting with Ghasempour, Rahmani, Nokhodi, and maybe Yousefi and Azimi.

I really hope Ahmadi Vafa has a breakout year at worlds since it looks to me he is starting to fill out and adapt to 60. But I would also like Shamsipour to go up purely because we already have Ahmadi and Dadmarz at 55 and neither of them look to be going up anytime soon. 57 I think is always going to be difficult to find purely because of the lack of people who can fit in that weight class long term. Arman Elahi I think could be a good contender in a few years time but he very well could become a 61 or 65 kg wrestler in 2 years. 74 I think Sina Khalili can fill out in 2 years if he moves up after this year. For 86 I don't think Rahmani or Azimi will compete there. It will probably be between Ghasempour, Nokhodi and Yousefi. 97 will most likely be between Azimi, Rahmani, Azarpira, Yazdani and Firouzpour. Now that I think about it our depth from 79 to 125 is really really good. Its mainly at the lower weights were we struggle at. Another interesting weight class to watch can be 65 with Amouzad, Khateri and Ebrahimzadeh. I would honestly be more concerned with 57 then any of the other weight classes.

[Bulldozer Without Brakes]

16 hours ago, Lucho said:

I really hope Ahmadi Vafa has a breakout year at worlds since it looks to me he is starting to fill out and adapt to 60. But I would also like Shamsipour to go up purely because we already have Ahmadi and Dadmarz at 55 and neither of them look to be going up anytime soon. 57 I think is always going to be difficult to find purely because of the lack of people who can fit in that weight class long term. Arman Elahi I think could be a good contender in a few years time but he very well could become a 61 or 65 kg wrestler in 2 years. 74 I think Sina Khalili can fill out in 2 years if he moves up after this year. For 86 I don't think Rahmani or Azimi will compete there. It will probably be between Ghasempour, Nokhodi and Yousefi. 97 will most likely be between Azimi, Rahmani, Azarpira, Yazdani and Firouzpour. Now that I think about it our depth from 79 to 125 is really really good. Its mainly at the lower weights were we struggle at. Another interesting weight class to watch can be 65 with Amouzad, Khateri and Ebrahimzadeh. I would honestly be more concerned with 57 then any of the other weight classes.

60kg GR is just very tough so even if Ahmadi doesn't medal again I wouldn't hold it against him or conclude that he hasn't improved since last year. 

Azimi already tried 97 but that didn't work so he came back down to 92. Azimi used to wrestle at 86 so I think he will try 86. And Rahmani is also way too small for 97 but who knows.

57 is definitely our weakest weight class but 57 and 74 are also weaker this year than they have been in a while.

[Lucho]

3 hours ago, Bulldozer Without Brakes said:

60kg GR is just very tough so even if Ahmadi doesn't medal again I wouldn't hold it against him or conclude that he hasn't improved since last year. 

Azimi already tried 97 but that didn't work so he came back down to 92. Azimi used to wrestle at 86 so I think he will try 86. And Rahmani is also way too small for 97 but who knows.

57 is definitely our weakest weight class but 57 and 74 are also weaker this year than they have been in a while.

I think Ahmadi Vafa has a pretty high ceiling even at 60 so I do think he will develop into a medal contender at the weight class. Especially since he has only recently moved up from 55 so there will naturally be an adjustment period. I'm hoping he can at least get to the bronze medal match this year even if he doesn't win it. Azimi is going up to 97 for U23s apparently so maybe he sees a better shot there than beating Rahmani/Firouzpour at 92. I think Rahmani might stay at 92 rather than go up or down tbh since he has a better shot there than anywhere else in the short term.

[Lucho]

Iran's sent a team to Ahmad Ghadirov cup which I think is also the selection tournament for Russia's 97 rep.

65: Ali Asghar Soltani and Amirreza Teymourizad

70: Sajjad Pirdayeh

74: Ali Akbar Fazli

86: Amirali Moslemi

97: Mehdi Hajilouian

125: Morteza Janmohammadzadeh

In other more distressing news Mehdi Hashemi who wrestles at 125 has been in a bad car crash and is currently hospitalised. Hopefully he makes a quick and speedy recovery.

[Bulldozer Without Brakes]

20 hours ago, Lucho said:

I think Ahmadi Vafa has a pretty high ceiling even at 60 so I do think he will develop into a medal contender at the weight class. Especially since he has only recently moved up from 55 so there will naturally be an adjustment period. I'm hoping he can at least get to the bronze medal match this year even if he doesn't win it. Azimi is going up to 97 for U23s apparently so maybe he sees a better shot there than beating Rahmani/Firouzpour at 92. I think Rahmani might stay at 92 rather than go up or down tbh since he has a better shot there than anywhere else in the short term.

i really don't understand why Azimi has moved to 97 again. he already tried it and it didn't work out. his best weight is clearly 92 and he is not even big at the weight. oh well. If Yazdani convinced everyone that he is big enough for 97 then I guess anyone is.  Stupid. 

[Lucho]

4 hours ago, Bulldozer Without Brakes said:

i really don't understand why Azimi has moved to 97 again. he already tried it and it didn't work out. his best weight is clearly 92 and he is not even big at the weight. oh well. If Yazdani convinced everyone that he is big enough for 97 then I guess anyone is.  Stupid. 

Yeah I don't know the reasoning behind it. I think he is in a position where he won't make any team tbh. 86 he has to get through Ghasempour, 92 he has to get through Rahmani and Firouzpour and 97 Yazdani and Azarpira. He should honestly stay at 92 or go down to 86 rather than go up.

[Tyler Perry]

I agree with the guy who said Khalili over Yazdani

[Bulldozer Without Brakes]

8 hours ago, Lucho said:

Yeah I don't know the reasoning behind it. I think he is in a position where he won't make any team tbh. 86 he has to get through Ghasempour, 92 he has to get through Rahmani and Firouzpour and 97 Yazdani and Azarpira. He should honestly stay at 92 or go down to 86 rather than go up.

I think he is our best guy at 92. He only didn’t make the team because our trial system rewards Firouzpour for losing to Russia 11-6 by saying he only needs to win one match in a best of 3 to make the team

In their best of 3 Azimi won the first match 3-2 but then lost the second match on criteria 2-2 and that was enough to send Firouzpour to worlds again 

IMO that privilege of only having to win one match in a best of 3 to make the team should only go to world champions not every medalist 

Edited September 16 by Bulldozer Without Brakes

[Lucho]

On 9/16/2026 at 5:57 PM, Bulldozer Without Brakes said:

I think he is our best guy at 92. He only didn’t make the team because our trial system rewards Firouzpour for losing to Russia 11-6 by saying he only needs to win one match in a best of 3 to make the team

In their best of 3 Azimi won the first match 3-2 but then lost the second match on criteria 2-2 and that was enough to send Firouzpour to worlds again 

IMO that privilege of only having to win one match in a best of 3 to make the team should only go to world champions not every medalist 

I think they are more or less equal tbh. I honestly prefer Rahmani over both of them. I'm pretty sure Rahmani beat Azimi this year too. I agree that if you are a reigning world medallist you can skip a lot of the selection process but need to win 2 matches in a best of 3 to make the team. If you are a reigning world champ then you have to win 1. This makes it a much fairer process for all wrestlers. But the best way imo is just to have Takhti or Iran nationals as selection for wrestlers. So winner of Iran Nationals makes the world team, second goes to Asian champs/Asian games/Islamic solidarity games etc. Then the top 4 guys get sent to ranking series tournaments. This helps reward wrestlers for competing at these tournaments as opposed to it being an arbitrary process. 

[Bulldozer Without Brakes]

32 minutes ago, Lucho said:

I think they are more or less equal tbh. I honestly prefer Rahmani over both of them. I'm pretty sure Rahmani beat Azimi this year too. I agree that if you are a reigning world medallist you can skip a lot of the selection process but need to win 2 matches in a best of 3 to make the team. If you are a reigning world champ then you have to win 1. This makes it a much fairer process for all wrestlers. But the best way imo is just to have Takhti or Iran nationals as selection for wrestlers. So winner of Iran Nationals makes the world team, second goes to Asian champs/Asian games/Islamic solidarity games etc. Then the top 4 guys get sent to ranking series tournaments. This helps reward wrestlers for competing at these tournaments as opposed to it being an arbitrary process. 

I think Azimi beat Rahmani twice after that

Rahmani is interesting but his age level career is not on the same level as Azimi’s or Firouzpour’s and he doesn’t have anything near the same pedigree of senior level wins so I don’t put him in the same bracket as the other two 

I agree Azimi and Firouzpour are hard to split, typical close domestic matches but I feel that Azimi is better internationally. He already has wins over Aitmukhan and big Khaniev. Who is Firouzpour’s best win? 

[Lucho]

1 hour ago, Bulldozer Without Brakes said:

I think Azimi beat Rahmani twice after that

Rahmani is interesting but his age level career is not on the same level as Azimi’s or Firouzpour’s and he doesn’t have anything near the same pedigree of senior level wins so I don’t put him in the same bracket as the other two 

I agree Azimi and Firouzpour are hard to split, typical close domestic matches but I feel that Azimi is better internationally. He already has wins over Aitmukhan and big Khaniev. Who is Firouzpour’s best win? 

Azimi then proceeded to lose to Aitmukhan when they wrestled again and he will also lose badly to Khaniev if they meet again at U23s. Azimi and Firouzpour are brutes who can only score off step out points. Rahmani is a far more technical wrestler whose style of wrestling will age well for him once he grows into senior level. Firouzpour has beaten Azimi, Kurbanov, Bataev, Tsakulov, Sharipov, Poyonov and Osman Nurmagomedov. So arguably Firouzpour's best win is Kurbanov or Sharipov imo. Still I think Rahmani will be our 92 rep in the next year or so.

[Bulldozer Without Brakes]

13 hours ago, Lucho said:

Azimi then proceeded to lose to Aitmukhan when they wrestled again and he will also lose badly to Khaniev if they meet again at U23s. Azimi and Firouzpour are brutes who can only score off step out points. Rahmani is a far more technical wrestler whose style of wrestling will age well for him once he grows into senior level. Firouzpour has beaten Azimi, Kurbanov, Bataev, Tsakulov, Sharipov, Poyonov and Osman Nurmagomedov. So arguably Firouzpour's best win is Kurbanov or Sharipov imo. Still I think Rahmani will be our 92 rep in the next year or so.

Azimi lost to Aitmukhan at 97 since his best weight is 92 and he only wrestled at 97 once IIRC while Aitmukhan had grown into the weight

You significantly overrate Rahmani in my opinion, if he can’t hit signature fireman throw he runs out of ideas and finds a way to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory

I don’t think Rahmani is making a senior team any time this side of 2028

[Lucho]

Apparently Danial Sohrabi is moving up to 77kg and Gholamreza Farokhi is moving up to 87kg from next year. It will be interesting to see whether they can replicate their success at olympic weight classes. Farokhi is competing at Asian Games this year at 87 so we will see how he fairs and whether he can beat Mohmedi. Sohrabi might not even be top 3 domestically since Oskou, Abdevali and Bouveiri are all at 77. I wonder if Farokhi beats Mohmedi whether he decides to go up to 97 since Saravi probably retires after 2028. He could be our replacement at 97 up until the 2032 olympics then.

[Bulldozer Without Brakes]

On 9/25/2026 at 2:33 AM, Lucho said:

Apparently Danial Sohrabi is moving up to 77kg and Gholamreza Farokhi is moving up to 87kg from next year. It will be interesting to see whether they can replicate their success at olympic weight classes. Farokhi is competing at Asian Games this year at 87 so we will see how he fairs and whether he can beat Mohmedi. Sohrabi might not even be top 3 domestically since Oskou, Abdevali and Bouveiri are all at 77. I wonder if Farokhi beats Mohmedi whether he decides to go up to 97 since Saravi probably retires after 2028. He could be our replacement at 97 up until the 2032 olympics then.

understandable since we are approaching 2028 but it is bad for our overall team at 72 and 82 

maybe Mohammadali Geraei can return at 82

[Lucho]

11 hours ago, Bulldozer Without Brakes said:

understandable since we are approaching 2028 but it is bad for our overall team at 72 and 82 

maybe Mohammadali Geraei can return at 82

I think Geraei has transitioned to BJJ. I think Abolfazl Mohmedi and Reza Azarshab are decent wrestlers at 82. At 72 I think we have Ahmadreza Mohsennejad who was quite promising at junior levels but has since stagnated a bit. He might develop in the next couple of years if given time. I'm trying to think of anyone else in particular but I feel like if both of them permanently move up it will make our team much worse.